Table 1.

The characteristics of included studies

Studies	Cases		Type of hepatocellular carcinoma	Stage of hepatocellular carcinoma(Edmonson tumor grades)	Age		Intervention
	Apatinib +TACE group	TACE group			Apatinib +TACE group	TACE group	Apatinib +TACE group	TACE group	Durations of intervention(months)
Bai 2018 [36]	25	25	SHCC	II~III	58.34±5.67	59.22±5.17	Apatinib 500 mg/d +TACE group	TACE	3
Jin 2017 [37]	20	22	SHCC	II~IV	55.24±1 0.64	54.12±1 1.48	Apatinib 500 mg/d +TACE group	TACE	3
Li 2018 [38]	54	52	SHCC	II~III	53.93±5.12	55.20±5.25	Apatinib 500 mg/d +TACE group	TACE	6
Lu 2019 [39]	22	21	SHCC	II~III	58.93±9.38	56.41±10.79	Apatinib 500 mg/d +TACE group	TACE	3
Wang 2017 [40]	43	43	SHCC	II~III	58.28±5.21	58.29±5.22	Apatinib 500 mg/d +TACE group	TACE	3
Wu 2019 [41]	28	31	SHCC	II~III	55.93±11.04	56.9±10.19	Apatinib 500 mg/d +TACE group	TACE	3
Zeng 2018 [42]	38	38	SHCC	NA	56.26±4.18	56.48±3.85	Apatinib 850 mg/d +TACE group	TACE	3
Huang 2018 [43]	30	30	SHCC	I~III	52.45±9.12	52.22±9.47	Apatinib 850 mg/d +TACE group	TACE	6
Xie 2019 [44]	42	50	SHCC	NA	53.56±9.16	52.98±9.24	Apatinib 250 mg/d +TACE group	TACE	3
Cui 2019 [45]	25	25	SHCC	II~IIV	51.62±9.64	52.24±9.88	Apatinib 500 mg/d +TACE group	TACE	3
Huang 2017 [46]	38	38	SHCC	II~III	53.09±10.42	52.91±9.26	Apatinib 850 mg/d +TACE group	TACE	3
Wu 2018 [47]	28	28	SHCC	II~III	52.11±10.25	52.42±10.71	Apatinib 500 mg/d +TACE group	TACE	3
He 2018 [48]	50	50	SHCC	II~III	52.14±9.17	55.37±10.33	Apatinib 400 mg/d +TACE group	TACE	3
Li 2017 [49]	20	20	SHCC	II~IV	49.17±10.27	51.06±10.12	Apatinib 850 mg/d +TACE group	TACE	3

SHCC small hepatocellular carcinoma, NA not available, TACE transcatheter arterial chemoembolization